cliff. the white house saying they don't expect we will. they still hope it can be prevented, but they have to start planning. also, speaker of the house john boehner meeting with small business leaders on capitol hill where he reiterated some of his key points. again, just within the past hour. take a listen. >> business owners with us today are here to highlight president obama's demand to raise tax rates instead of cutting spending. his plan will hurt nearly 1 million small businesses around our country. that will affect hundreds of thousands of jobs. >> reporter: and guys, there are republicans here on capitol hill who are urging the speaker to cut a deal with the president. i talked to one of the earliest republicans to say, you know what, let's take a the president up on his offer to extend the bush tax cuts for everybody under $250,000 and at least take that uncertainty off the table and then continue to negotiate the rest to have later. some of the republicans are now coalessing arou